If Mental Illness Were Ebola

The recent surges in suicide cases has brought the light unto Ghana’s mental health care system. The embarrassing fact of the matter is that mental illness and suicide have always been with us. The national attention that suicide has received is purely down to the influence of the media. Suicide is not a new thing to Ghana. Mental illness is one that we are all prone to, even the experts in the field-in a little less than two years ago, my lecturer in the discipline of mental health committed suicide.

We are behaving like mental health is a new subject to us. It has been established that one out of every four persons have a mental problem. So the recent media reports of suicide is barely a tip of the iceberg. Mental health is a very broad topic and l can not exhaust all of it one writing-not even in a lifetime.  But one thing that all Ghanaians should be ashamed of is the poor state of mental health in the country. In 2001, the World Health Organisation conceived the slogan: “No Health Without Mental Health”. Therefore, every solid healthcare system is one that has mental health as an integral part. However, the same can not be said of Ghana’s health situation. Mental health is virtually absent. 

In theory, Ghana has a great mental health outlook. Ghana’s Mental Health Act 846 of 2012 was touted as one of the best there is in the world. Unfortunately, our mental health system is only on paper. Five years after the enactment of the Mental Health Act, not a single penny has been released by government towards the funding of the statutory Mental Health Authority. 

How do we expect to build a robust and comprehensive mental health system whilst the motherboard of mental healthcare is living at the mercy of meagre and sporadic donations from NGOs? Are we going to leave the much talked about deinstitutionalisation of mental health care in the pipeline? When will the right and adequate infrastructure of mental health be provided? Who will take serious the issues of severe shortage of human resource in the mental health industry? When will Ministry of Health begin to remunerate mental health staffs accordingly to their expertise? There are a million questions l could ask.

The outbreak of the ebola pandemic in fellow West African nations has shown us how desperate and pragmatic we can get as a country in safeguarding our health. At the mention of ebola, makeshift quarantine centres were raised all over the country. At the mention of ebola, contingency funds were established. At the mention of ebola, special personnel were deployed on standby. At the mention of ebola, stakeholder crisis meetings were being convened all over. At the mention of ebola, stringent security measure were being put in place left, right, centre. 

So what is the crime of mental illness victims? Why cant priority be given to mental health? We need an urgent revision of our priorities before mental disorders prove to us that there is a disease, far more dangerous than the much dreaded ebola.

The Blood In The Veins Of Suicide

It's interesting how suicide cases are being recorded across the world and Ghana has got its perfect place in that record. It's not surprising however, judging from the fact that within a space of two weeks, five of this glorious acts have been committed.

What we do know is, these cases; KNUST student, Legon student, a JHS 2 student in Akyem, a 30-year-old driver in Half-Assini and a young man from Old Tafo in Achimota were all reported cases. What about those that have not been properly documented and reported? They were perhaps hidden under mercy of shame.

Statistics in Ghana have shown that five persons commit this act every other day. It has been projected to shot up in the coming years.

Another interesting fact of these five cases, as we have know to be, is that most are occurring in the segment of education.

It speaks a lot about our educational sector. There is an incredible positive correlation between education and suicide cases in Ghana.

Look, education is a great adventure which anyone who has taken part in, will be very proud of.

However, the acknowledgements must be given to the challenges it poses to the individual traveling it's path.

Before an individual commits suicide, it is believed to have emanated from the psychological spheres of the person. Some individuals have a high vulnerability to stressors and with a little exposure they resort to such acts.

Undoubtedly, education presents most of such stressors to an individual.

Before you get your first degree in Ghana, you might have probably spend about 16 years in the classroom. The University which was introduced to, as it were, develop intellectual capabilities, has suddenly joined the race with the SHS and JHS for the "sitting in classroom all day" mantra.

Students scarcely have time for themselves to relax their minds. Lecture notes are being packed on them and there is little or no space between lecture hours. Students at this level are being treated us primary kids, where they are always preoccupied with stressful activities.

The most suicidal part of all of these is that, students are required to provide, sometimes verbatim, from the packed lecture notes and the limited time under which they are tutored, preventing them from expressing themselves. The moment they hear of Interim Assessment or quiz, there you will see students becoming so tensed up and jittery.

With all these, it becomes apparent that students with high vulnerability to stressors will definitely resort to commiting suicide. Sometimes you can't help but to think that the University managements deliberately do such things; packed lecture hours.

Gone were the days where you go to lectures, at most, four times in a week. Aside that, you have a lot of time within the day to develop your interest in a particular activity which takes much away the boredom and the pressure; igniters of suicide actions.

Mental health now needs to be told in a better context. What's the use if, lectures are being packed on students yet, they are required to give vivid account of all that transpired in such limited times. Meanwhile, such students will probably be taking a course in mental health, which makes them aware of how dangerous stress can be to their lives. It's such devastating!

The issue becomes worse when students themselves do not take delight in social activities.

What do we see, again, this days?

The moment they say Hall week celebration, SRC week celebrations and the likes, you will find students hiding behind the connotation that, "oh I'm a Christian", "ooh my books". University managements are even kicking against such mind relaxing and social activities. Such programs have been inserted into the school's calendar, for a very useful purpose and so it's surprising how these days the attitude towards such events are dwindling.

It's high time we got to realize that such gatherings help minimize, to the extreme, the boredom of persons and we've got to campaign for it as such.

It has become obvious that, most people embarking on this journey of education wouldn't land at the apex of the path taken.

A good example Komla Dumor of blessed memory, who started as a medical student but ending up as one of African greatest journalist.

In his case, he could have easily committed suicide after failing his final examination as a medical student in Nigeria and was withdrawn from the school.

But you know what, life gives more avenues of possibilities than you can think. That's the more reason extra curricular activities should be much encouraged in our schools.

He moved to Ghana, where he studied a totally different course in Business and later to journalism.

It's all about the excitement or better put, the satisfaction you get from what you do. Ones you get satisfied over what you do, suicide will be your last option to think of. Gradually, we will help to eradicate this canker in the environment.

Help campaign against suicide.

Help transform our educational sector.

Help send Ghana to the permanent site.

By: Richard Mawunyo Dartey - University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS-HO)